Emotional Intelligence: Crucial to an Organization’s Success Essay

â€Å"Historically, leaders in most organizations have neglected emotions in the workplace. Today we realize that emotions are very much a part of workplace success. How individuals respond to real situations each and every day and what organizations do to foster productive emotional responses can make the difference between the organization that stumbles and the organization that thrives.† Marcia Hughes, President Collaborative Growth Many companies today are teetering on the edge of disaster. Excessive downsizing has created employees who find themselves overworked, underappreciated and constantly seesawing between exhaustion and fear. Competition in the workplace is fierce and many new recruits feel a need to turn to aggressive tactics to get ahead of their peers or risk falling behind. Business leaders are beginning to realize that such negative emotions among their employees are not healthy for the organization and its prospects for success. Many are seeking ways to turn negative emotions into positive, productive behavior. Research indicates a strong correlation between emotional intelligence and individual job performance. By emphasizing emotional intelligence in hiring and in teambuilding and training programs, senior management and human resources professionals can improve decision making, problem solving and the ability to cope with change among employees. Emotionally intelligent organizations maximize potential for business success and increase productivity because people in these organizations share more powerful connections. Organizations today must strive to become more emotionally intelligent. Their success – indeed their very survival – depends on it. Emotional Intelligence Defined Emotional intelligence, alternatively known as EI or EQ, reflects an individual’s ability to deal with daily environmental challenges and helps predict success in life, both in professional and personal pursuits. EI competencies include empathy, intuition, creativity, flexibility, resilience, stress management, leadership, integrity, happiness and optimism, as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal communication skills. Emotional intelligence is based on a long history of research and theory in personality and social psychology. The three most widely used approaches to emotional intelligence were developed by Reuven BarOn, Daniel Goleman, and Jack Mayer, Peter Salovey and David Caruso. While the theory and practice of EI continues to evolve, the central premise that social and personal competencies are vital for a productive life remains a common theme throughout each model. And research continues to demonstrate EI’s importance to both individuals and organizations. Measurement of Emotional Intelligence The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i ®) is the first scientifically developed and validated measure of emotional intelligence. Reuven Bar-On is an internationally acknowledged expert and pioneer in emotional intelligence and has been instrumental in defining, measuring and applying various aspects of the concept since 1980. He coined the term â€Å"EQ† (â€Å"emotional quotient†) in 1985 to describe his approach to assessing emotional and social competence and created the EQ-i, which was the first test of emotional intelligence to be published by a psychological test publisher (1997). Today EQ-i assessments are the most widely used measure of EI, approaching two million copies distributed worldwide, making it one of the most popular psychological tests. The EQ-i provides information for each individual on five composite scales and 15 subscales: o Intrapersonal Scales: self-regard, emotional self awareness, assertiveness, independence, self-actualization o Interpersonal Scales: empathy, social responsibility, interpersonal relationships o Adaptability Scales: reality testing, flexibility, problem solving o Stress Management Scales: stress tolerance, impulse control o General Mood Scales: optimism, happiness The EQ-i can be used by organizations as part of the recruitment screening process to assist in identifying potentially successful employees. It can also be employed in identifying emotional and social skills for employee training programs, teambuilding and enhancing leadership capabilities in the workplace. In addition, an organization’s return on investment can be measured using this reliable instrument. The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Organizations A growing body of research demonstrates that emotional intelligence is a better predictor of â€Å"success† than traditional measures of cognitive intelligence (IQ). The workplace is an ideal environment for people to develop their social and emotional skills, as individuals are motivated to develop those capabilities in pursuit of success and promotion. The concept is equally important to employers, as their bottom-line productivity rests on the emotional intelligence of the whole organization. When executives and employees work to improve capabilities in areas in which they are weakest, it benefits the entire organization, improving communication and increasing productivity. The EQ-i creates a profile of an individual’s emotional intelligence, showing both areas of strength and weakness. Individuals can use this information to develop areas in need of improvement. Organizations can use these profiles to show whether a potential hire would make a good addition to the team or expose traits in existing employees in need of enhancement through training or incentive programs. An action plan can be developed once an individual or organization has this information, supporting growth in desired areas. â€Å"As the pace of change increases and the world of work makes ever greater demands on a person’s cognitive, emotional, and physical resources, this particular set of abilities will become increasingly important.† Cary Cherniss, Ph.D. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Rutgers University Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice Scores in each EQ-i category can predict job performance and satisfaction. When an organization evaluates the emotional intelligence of its employees and of its star performers, it gains a strong blueprint for improving individual performance, enhancing the workplace climate and driving productivity. Application of the EQ-i by the U.S. Air Force demonstrates the financial power of this information. The exceptionally high turnover rate of recruits was changed by finding that recruits who scored well in five factors – assertiveness, empathy, happiness, self-awareness and problem solving – were 2.7 times more likely to succeed. By using this instrument to find those who are right for this position, the Air Force increased retention rate by 92%, saving an estimated $2.7 million in less than a year. The consequences for neglect of emotional intelligence in an organization can be devastating to productivity and bottom-line business results. Breakdowns in internal communication that produce confusion, uncertainty, hostility and reduced productivity are just a few of the factors organizations face if they do not actively pursue a strategy of fostering emotional intelligence in the workplace. Successful organizations today strive to reap the benefits of becoming more emotionally intelligent: improving performance of employees and executives, building strong teams and driving productivity. â€Å"The quest to make companies more emotionally intelligent is one more and more organizations are embarking on, whether they use the term or not. An organization’s collective emotional intelligence is no mere soft assessment; it has hard consequences.†

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Management - Essay Example Fourthly, the company works to enhance the quality of the products through offering different cuttings and also renders potential information to the consumers in regards to different product characteristics. Fifthly, the company conducts effective after sales service and, thus, helps the customer’s to contact through phone and mail. Sixthly, the order delivery time is well scheduled and also calls for refund within a period of one month if not satisfied with the quality of the diamond. (b) The company becomes able to render high quality diamonds and fine jewelry at seemingly competitive prices owing to the advantage of its potential supply chain system, the strategy involved in reducing the cost of operations and the mode of technology used. Inventory holding cost is reduced by the company with also the gaining of orders from the suppliers when the customer finally has made the order. This helps in reducing the ordering cost. Technology used in the diamond company is both trad itional and modern, coupled with outsourcing activities conducted. This helps in reducing the cost of operation and, thus, renders low cost diamonds to the customers. (c) The process of educating the consumers on the quality and features of the product helps the company in adequately maintaining effective customer relationship with the people. Thus, through this process the company can work in enhancing the brand awareness in the larger market and in highlighting on the parameters of transparency and trade ethics thereby helping in consumer retention (Thompson and Eastburn, 2010, p.127-130). Question #2 – Google (a) I certainly would have bought the stock of Google for the company reflects an appreciation in its stock level by 18 percent during 2004. The appreciation of its stock level also shows the mass appeal for the initial public offering of the company and gain the different parties to the stock ownership of Google also reflect significant gain in profits. Thus, it woul d not be a wrong decision in moving over to purchase the stocks of Google. (b) Definitely, Google is one of the important and influential companies of the early twenty first century in that the company is continuously innovating on its search engine features by introducing key elements like online books, maps, social networking features like orkut and other blogging sites. This introduction of new elements, thus, attracts large number of visitors to its site also surpassing You Tube by revenues worth $200 million during 2007. The search engine also renders commercial advantages through its Ad-word initiative, thus, covering every aspect of internet usage in the modern world. Again, Google also tends to enter the mobile technological interface through the use of Android technology helping users to use Google via their handsets. (c) The corporate culture of Google reflects a different culture from the other corporate firms operating in the United States. It is found that the work cult ure at Google rests on employee empowerment and an adequate teamwork environment where the people are not measured on the basis of their individual actions. People are encouraged to help in boosting the system of innovation in the company and in spending their time on operations rather than involved in long hour meetings. Dependence on the company on their employees’

Psychology of Language - The Differences between Boys and Girls in Essay

Psychology of Language - The Differences between Boys and Girls in Language Development - Essay Example Their natural born, biological attributes may more important to their acquisition of language than the way they are nurtured. Chomsky believes that children have an innate ability to learn language and that this ability only needs to be triggered by verbal input from their environment. (Chomsky, 1972) Two other prevalent theories on language development in children are Piaget’s idea of cognitive constructivism and Vygotsky’s concept of social constructivism and language. Piaget suggests that language is simply one of the ways children represent the world with which they are familiar. It reflects but does not contribute to the development of thinking. Piaget believed that cognitive development precedes the development of language. (1955) Vygotsky believed that language impacts such that language is a form of social communication that gradually promotes both language itself and cognition. (1978, 1985) In general, these theories recognize that children are co-constructors in their world and that their development of language is a part of their holistic development that emerges from their cognitive, social and emotional interactions. We are now well aware that male and female brains are different. Anatomical and chemical differences begin early in development due to genetic and hormonal events and continue throughout life, but understanding these differences is difficult. We recognize the importance of considering sex differences when designing and interpreting studies, but our understanding of the differences is so unclear that interpreting the results is full of pitfalls. (Becker, J. B. et al. 2005) This is equally as true in studies of gender differences in language acquisition as elsewhere. Although much of the work on gender differences in language acquisition is speculative, some information is known. We realize that there are differences between

I want a wife Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

I want a wife - Essay Example In today’s society, the role of the wife is the most important of the family as the woman is the primary caregiver of the children and the main one who ensures the family stays organized and intact. All of these are pertinent points that this essay has included in its structure. From a modern day mother and wife’s stand point, the article by Brady is totally off the concept of what a wife’s position in the family is in the 20th century. If the type of mentality towards women and wives in general was implied today as it apparently was back in the 70’s, it would leave many women in an utter outrage because a wife/mothers’ role is far more than waiting on a husbands every need, hand and foot. Brady depicted wives as almost slaves in the article, insinuating women had one sole purpose and that was to cater to a man or husband, if you will. There is no equality found in this piece of literature, and for wives today there is no logical association for women of the 20th century to identify with. Times have definitely changed and it’s obvious that they have been progressing for the better, for women, through the decades. From a feminist perspective, the description of wives in the article is inadequate and although it might hold some what of a historical perception of how wives roles use to be considered, it simply is not a viable assumption now. However, when looking back into the mid 1900’s, the wife’s role was basically one in which it was expected that she would be a homemaker and tend to all the areas that had any type of bearing on caring for the children, schedule keeping, keeping the home in order, and paying considerable consideration to her husband and his needs. Beyond that, there was no expectation for the wife to work outside the hoe since it was the common idea that the husband would be the bread winner, and take care of all the more pertinent aspects of

Developing Human Resource Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Developing Human Resource Strategies - Essay Example It also comprises of a few recommendations along with an action plan in order to enhance the business objectives. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 Overview of Toyco 4 Toy Industry of United Kingdom 5 Internal and External Environment 5 Analysis 6 Overview of HRM and SHRM 6 AMO Model 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 Action Plan 12 References 13 Bibliography 16 Appendices 18 Introduction Overview of Toyco Toyco is a toy company which is currently operated independently by Martin Monk. It was established in the year 1950 by Harold Bennet. The prime objective of Toyco is to offer extensive range of toys to the children of the society with the intention to enhance the brand loyalty of the organisation (Michell, 2011). Even though, Toyco needs to implement certain SHRM strategies, it had to witness varied types of challenges in its human resource, marketing and finance related operations. Due to lack of coordination among the employees of the organisation, uniform org anisational culture could not be maintained within Toyco. As a result, the devotion and morale of the employees are also affected to a high extent, resulting in downfall of the profit margin of the organisation. In addition, this may also result in employee conflicts leading to increase of turnover and absenteeism rates. Along with human resource, the marketing department in the organisation is also facing diverse issues (Michell, 2011). Due to lack of allocation of human resources, the employees are observed to fail to offer various innovative products to the target customers, which might hinder the image of the organisation in long run. Moreover, due to lack of motivation, employee devotion and commitment towards the assigned task is reducing at a considerable pace, which in turn tends to hinder Toyco’s productivity and efficiency. As a result, the customer might shift towards other leading competitors resulting in the downfall of the total sales of Toyco, which might be de trimental for the organisation (Michell, 2011). Thus, these above mentioned challenges should be diminished with the help of various SHRM strategies within the organisation. Toy Industry of United Kingdom The toy market of United Kingdom is regarded to be highly competitive in the current day context. It includes many apparent competitors. Moreover, each and every organisation is currently observed to attempt to offer inventive products to magnetise large number of customers (Michell, 2011). It is essential to retain its market share as well as profitability in the market with the purpose to augment customer loyalty and responsiveness (Armstrong & et. al., 2009). Internal and External Environment The internal environment of Toyco includes its brands, its financial strengths as well as market competencies. Notably, the company serves its customers with a varied range of products such as reaction man, action girl, space geeks and bolbs among others of varying age groups. This signific antly contributes to the overall enhancement of its brand uniqueness and reputation in the market. Moreover, the company includes a strong hold over the European and Mexican market intends to enhance its distinctiveness among other competitors operating in same segment. However, the

Employee Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Employee Empowerment - Essay Example This implies that lower level managers and supervisors are expected to implement decisions made by top-level managers, which increases rigidity. Employees of the company are expected to follow strictly their supervisors and managers decisions without question. According to the employees, delegating some decision-making powers to them would enable them act promptly to improve the efficiency and manufacturing processes of the company for better performance. However, due to the bureaucratic nature of the company, the managers and the supervisors deny the employees such powers. The overall effect has been that the employees of the company are demoralized resulting in high labor turnover and subsequently the poor performance of the company in terms of productivity. It is based on this situation that the employees of this organization have made an appeal that they be reasonably empowered. Current Literature about Employee Empowerment Employee empowerment is a subject of great concern to bu siness and human resource managers. Employee empowerment refers to the strategy or philosophy that involves allowing workers to make decisions that affect their work according to Linda (1997, p.202). Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.35) on the other hand define employee empowerment as the act of enhancing employees’ involvement in organizational processes and decision-making. It basically involves delegating some decision-making powers to employees on matters affecting their jobs so as to ensure that organizational goals are achieved. Some of the ways of empowering employees include: allowing employees to take part in the decision-making process, delegating powers to them and offering them leadership positions (Wooddell 2009, p.16). Employee empowerment can be used to improve productivity, performance, service quality, customer and employee satisfaction, and the efficiency of an organization. Demirci and Erbas (2010, p.143) argue that companies need to manage and improve their emplo yees’ performance. This is achievable through empowerment. Empowerment, according to Demirci can be formulated through by considering four main dimensions namely: knowledge, power, information, and rewards. Alternatively stated, empowerment is the product of the four elements, information, knowledge, power, and reward. The dimensions are derived by taking into consideration the power of empowerment in enhancing the efficacy of employees. Lack of any one of the four elements might lower the overall degree of empowerment according to Shulagna (2009, p.49). Organizations now widely appreciate the fact that bureaucratic leadership in which where decision-making is squarely placed on the hands of top-level managers hampers flexibility and timely execution of duties down the line. On the other hand, it has been established that placing all decision making responsibility on the hands of lower level employees is a recipe for chaos and purposeless conflict (Bowen and Lawler 1995, p.78 ). Taking note of these facts, it is crucial for organizations to ensure that employees are engaged in decision-making by being empowered. The organization needs to develop a culture where employees are given the right to participate in decision-making especially on issues touching on their work. This will help in improving the effectiveness of the organization. Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.80) note that employee empowerment is an extremely powerful tool that organizations in the modern business environment need to implement as a way of improving their performances. One of the main results of employee empowerment is job satisfaction according to Wooddell (2009, p.15). Studies have shown that employee empowerment has a direct relationship with job satisfaction. In this regard, empowerment increases the satisfaction

Qualitative Research Project Essay Example for Free

Qualitative Research Project Essay